Green smoothies at GKV

Today at Georgia King Village, it was a great day and it went by very smoothly. We had about 15 kids today and the weather was beautiful. At first we worked on our garden and showed some new kids the plants. The kids helped us water the garden and helped us weed it too.



Weeding the garden

Kids playing"red light green light"

After we finished with the garden we played a quick game of "Red Light, Green Light." All the kids had so much fun with the game that they didnt want to stop.


After the game we took the children inside to play another game. This one was one we played before and the kids seem to like it every time we play. We played enviromental Uno.

A game of Enviromental Uno

After the game we had the kids rip up thier own leaf of swiss chard and put it in the blender. After that we added some bananas, peaches, and some orange juice. The kids were amazed oh how the smoothie looked but they tried it anyway. To our surprise,all of the kids loved it and even wanted seconds. Overall it was a smooth day and we hope we get others like this.



Kids tearing up swiss chard leaves

The harvest at Bradley Court

Today at Bradley Court, we saw amazing results in the garden. Our radishes and kale are fully grown and the kids were able to take them home. The kids then planted cabbage and peppers. We didn't have enough time to give them the snack, but we will return tomorrow to make the snack and play an educational game. We had roughly about 15 kids.

Wow! We were surprised by how tall the radishes grew!



A closeup of a radish poking out of the ground



The biggest radish I've ever seen!




Let's finish weeding so that we can plant our seedlings!



Then we played Simon Says... pat your tummy and rub your head!

Planting and Cooking at GKV

Today the Juniors Rangers went to Georgia King Village. When we arrived there, one of the kids was already waiting for us. When we finally made it into the garden we had new growth with the lettuce and other veggies. As time went by more kids came. In the garden we weeded the beds and planted tomato, pepper, cabbage, and basil seedlings. They have a head start on the hardest part of growing - sprouting. The tomato seeds we planted that never sprouted, but we hope that these seedlings do well.

A child plants a cayenne pepper seedling.

Soon after we watered, we headed inside for the snack. By the time we were inside, we had gathered about 20 kids. We are thinking about moving downstairs to a bigger room if the same amount of kids keep coming. The kids washed their hands and then helped make the snack. For the snack we had leeks, sweet potatoes, and kale. We mixed them into a skillet with the help of the kids. Along with the three veggies we added olive oil, garlic salt, and pepper.

Cooking up our fresh snack!

After the snack was done cooking, the kids got to try the snack, and surprisingly a lot of them loved it. Many gave each veggie a the rating of a 5!

Digging in!

We gave the kids this fact sheet about the veggies that they tried. Maybe they will try them at home, too!

Earth Day in the Garden :)

This week, the Youth Gardens was pretty successful. Yesterday at Georgia King Village, the weather was windy but sunny. We are seeing impressive progress in the garden. The peas are 9 inches tall, the lettuce is 2 inches tall, the radish greens are 3 inches tall, the cabbage is 2 inches tall, and the carrots are 2 centimeters tall. We are seeing good progress, and we hope that it continues on schedule.


There were three kids at the garden at GKV, and they all had a turn to water the plants. We had to take out some dying plants in one of the barrels and we planted new seeds in the barrels. In one of the large beds, we had to take out some of the cabbage plants due to the fact that each plant needs adequate space to grow and spread their roots.

Weeding the peas at GKV

Watering the carrots at GKV

The weather at Bradley Court was a little drizzly with a lot of humidity. The progress of the garden was a lot better than we all had expected. The radishes are 6 inches, the beets are 4 inches, the kale is 6 1/2 inches, the carrots are 6 1/2 inches and the peas are 11 inches. These measurements are from the kids themselves. We started out with five kids but three more kids came along for a total of eight kids. We didn't have to water due to the fact that it was going to rain, but we let the kids water the plants to get them involved. There were a lot of weeds in multiple beds but we were able to take them out.

Measuring the peas at BC

Gardening Developments

Good news, guys! Our plants have made progress! About a month ago, we planted seeds such as radish, lettuce, carrots etc. When we went to Georgia King Village this week, the plants had grown about 3 inches tall. That was really good, but when we went to Bradley Court today, guess what? They had grown 7.5 inches tall! We were really surprised at how tall it had grown. So today we watered the plants and weeded the plant beds. We are hoping to see an even greater progress next week! Can't wait!

GKV March 28, 2012

GKV April 18, 2012

BC March 29, 2012

BC April 19, 2012